Digital Commons Network^™

Cellulose Nanofiber As Mask/Personal Protective Equipment Surface Agent For Enhanced Anti-Bacterial Performance, Sophia Jackson, Jonathan Chen

Faculty Publications

The utilization of face-covering masks as an extended form of personal protective equipment has led to exponential waste measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, with estimations of up to 7200 tons of medical-type waste daily. A primary cause of this waste is surgical layered disposable masks that are constructed by melt-blown nonwovens usually made of non-biodegradable thermoplastic polymers like polypropylene. To increase widespread sustainable options to the public, commercialized or do-it-yourself-based fabric masks serve as a solution, but their resistance to harmful molecules is less than that of the medical-grade masks due to the fabric structure that leaves space for penetration. …

Twisting Manin's Universal Quantum Groups And Comodule Algebras, Hongdi Huang, Van C. Nguyen, Charlotte Ure, Kent B. Vashaw, Padmini Veerapen, Xingting Wang

Faculty Publications

We introduce the notion of quantum-symmetric equivalence of two connected graded algebras, based on Morita–Takeuchi equivalences of their universal quantum groups, in the sense of Manin. We study homological and algebraic invariants of quantum-symmetric equivalence classes, and prove that numerical Tor-regularity, Castelnuovo–Mumford regularity, Artin–Schelter regularity, and the Frobenius property are invariant under any Morita–Takeuchi equivalence. In particular, by combining our results with the work of Raedschelders and Van den Bergh, we prove that Koszul Artin–Schelter regular algebras of a fixed global dimension form a single quantum-symmetric equivalence class. Moreover, we characterize 2-cocycle twists (which arise as a special case of …

Cpeb3 Maintains Developmental Competence Of The Oocyte, Lucie Lamacova, Denisa Jansova, Zongliang Jiang, Michal Dvoran, Daria Aleshkina, Rajan Iyyappan, Anna Jindrova, Heng Yu Fan, Yuxuan Jiao, Andrej Susor

Faculty Publications

Mammalian oocyte development depends on the temporally controlled translation of maternal transcripts, particularly in the coordination of meiotic and early embryonic development when transcription has ceased. The translation of mRNA is regulated by various RNA-binding proteins. We show that the absence of cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein 3 (CPEB3) negatively affects female reproductive fitness. CPEB3-depleted oocytes undergo meiosis normally but experience early embryonic arrest due to a disrupted transcriptome, leading to aberrant protein expression and the subsequent failure of embryonic transcription initiation. We found that CPEB3 stabilizes a subset of mRNAs with a significantly longer 3’UTR that is enriched in its …

Aerial, Surface, And Subsurface Multimodal Mapping In Coastal Peru: Insights From Cerro San Isidro, Moro Region, Nepeña Valley, Kayla Golay Lausanne, David Chicoine, Jeisen Navarro Vega, George F. Lau

Faculty Publications

This article describes a series of steps to integrate multiple modes of archaeological mapping in arid and agricultural settings. We use the coastal region of Peru as a case study and share our recent field experience at Cerro San Isidro, a multicomponent hill site located in the agriculture-intensive and mid-elevation (about 500 m asl) Moro region of the Nepeña Valley. In June and July 2022, we spent eight weeks deploying a combination of drone aerial imagery, pedestrian GPS reconnaissance, and GPR survey to map the surface and subsurface features at the site and in the adjacent agricultural fields. Our efforts …

“You Can’T Wash Your Hands In A House Without Running Water”: Pandemic Precautionary Behaviors After Hurricane Laura, Cécile M.F. Girard, Katie E. Cherry, Laura Sampson

Faculty Publications

Hurricane Laura made landfall in southwestern Louisiana in August 2020 while the world was several months into the COVID-19 pandemic. In the present research, we examined pandemic precautionary behaviors in a sample of adults who varied in exposure and damage due to Hurricane Laura, a destructive Category 4 hurricane. A total of 127 participants responded to an online survey that assessed pandemic worry and precautionary behaviors, hurricane exposure and damage, and health-related quality of life. We found that Hurricane Laura victims neglected pandemic precautionary behaviors at significantly higher levels in the weeks immediately following Hurricane Laura than did indirectly impacted …

Editorial Introduction: Exploring The Frontier Of Policy Theory Research, Geoboo Song, Melissa K. Merry, Saba Siddiki, Gwen Arnold, Aaron Smith-Walter, Holly L. Peterson, Creed Tumlison, Heasun Choi, Briana Huett, Davor Mondom, Christopher Giller, Meerim Seiitova

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Chemically Amplified, Dry-Develop Poly(Aldehyde) Photoresist, Jose Lopez Ninantay, Anthony Engler, Jared Schwartz, Paul A. Kohl

Faculty Publications

The catalytic decomposition of poly(phthalaldehyde) with a photoacid generator can be used as dry-develop photoresist, where the exposed film depolymerizes into small molecules to allow the development of features via controlled vaporization. Higher temperatures enabled shorter dry-development times, but also promoted faster photoacid diffusion that compromised pattern fidelity. Trihexylamine was used as a base quencher to counteract acid diffusion in a phthalaldehyde-propanal co-polymer photoresist. The propanal co-monomer in the polymer improves the vaporization rate because it has a higher vapor pressure than phthalaldehyde. Addition of the base quencher was found to improve the contrast, pattern fidelity, and ease-of-handling of the …

Enhanced Microstructural Stability And Hardness Of Multi-Component Nanocrystalline Nickel Alloys Processed Via Mechanical Alloying, Mari Therese S. Burton, B. Chad Hornbuckle, Vincent H. Hammond, Kristopher A. Darling, Helen M. Chan, Christopher J. Marvel, Martin P. Harmer

Faculty Publications

Nanocrystalline alloys are noteworthy for their high strength, and nanocrystalline Ni is being investigated for high-temperature applications. However, nanocrystalline alloys are unstable against coarsening, thereby prone to degradation of strength. In this work, two nanocrystalline alloys, Ni–(0, 11 at pct W)–3 at pct Ta–2 at pct Y, were designed to exhibit microstructural stability and high strength by forming nanoscale precipitates, maintaining stable nanoscale grains to exploit Hall–Petch hardening, and decreasing the stacking fault energy of the Ni-based matrix. Produced via high-energy cryogenic mechanical alloying, both alloys exhibited thermal stability and enhanced mechanical properties due to beneficial impurity yttrium oxide/nitride particles …

A Reciprocal Integral Identity Of Coupled Poisson And Laplace Equations In Two Arbitrary Domains Sharing A Common Boundary, Sai Sashankh Rao, Harris Wong

Faculty Publications

In solving the coupled vapor and liquid unidirectional flows in micro heat pipes, we discovered numerically an integral identity. After asymptotic and polynomial expansions, the coupled flows yield two reciprocal systems of equations. In system A, a vapor velocity UA obeys the Poisson equation and drives, through an interfacial boundary condition, a liquid velocity WA that satisfies the Laplace equation. In reciprocal system B, a liquid velocity WB obeys the Poisson equation and drives, through another interfacial boundary condition, a vapor velocity UB that satisfies the Laplace equation. We found that the vapor volume flow rate of UB is numerically …

Impact Of Early-Season Postemergence Co-Applications Of Foliar And Residual Herbicides On Crop Injury, Growth, And Yield In 2,4-D- And Dicamba-Tolerant Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum L.), Logan N. Vallee

LSU Master's Theses

Studies were conducted in 2021 through 2023 at the LSU AgCenter Dean Lee Research and Extension Center near Alexandria, LA to determine the sensitivity of 2,4-D- or dicamba- tolerant cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to an early season application of a Group 15 and foliar-only herbicides. Both studies were randomized complete block designs with a two-factorial arrangement of treatments with four replications. In the dicamba-tolerant cotton study, Factor A consisted of no foliar-herbicide, dicamba alone, glyphosate alone, or dicamba plus glyphosate. Factor B consisted of either no Group 15 residual herbicide, acetochlor, or S-metolachlor. In the 2,4-D- tolerant cotton …

Associations Of Adhd Symptoms, Anxiety Symptoms, And Executive Functions In College-Age Women, Micayla Carter

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Antimicrobial Screening Of Pecan Shell Extract And Efficacy Of Pecan Shell Extract-Pullulan Coating Against Listeria Monocytogenes, Salmonella Enterica, And Staphylococcus Aureus On Blueberries, Karuna Kharel, Karolina Kraśniewska, Małgorzata Gniewosz, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Kathryn Fontenot, Achyut Adhikari

Faculty Publications

Pecan shell is considered an agricultural waste; however, it contains various bioactive compounds with potential inhibitory effect against microorganisms. This study evaluated the antimicrobial efficacy of pecan shell extract (PSE) in vitro using disc-diffusion method and in vivo on blueberries as an antimicrobial coating using pullulan. For in vitro study, 5 and 10 % of aqueous (A-PSE) or ethanol pecan shell extract (E-PSE) incorporated into pullulan film were tested against different bacterial and fungal strains. Pullulan film disc was used as control. The diameter of growth inhibition (mm) around discs was measured. For in vivo study, PSE-P (5 % w/v …

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Analysis Of Tourmaline: Protocols, Procedures, And Predicaments, Nancy J. Mcmillan, Barbara L. Dutrow

Faculty Publications

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is an appropriate choice of analytical tool for analysis of complex minerals because it is rapid, requires little sample preparation, and acquires major and trace element compositional information on all naturally occurring elements at concentrations above their intrinsic levels of detection for the specific analyte material. Tourmaline, a complex borosilicate mineral supergroup, was chosen as a test mineral due to the complexity of its major and minor element composition. Four analytical issues were investigated during project development: (1) the spacing between analytical laser shots to avoid analysis of the recast from previous laser ablations, (2) the …

60th Student Senate Org Session 2 Meeting Minutes, Zoe Joubert

Student Senate Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Methods For Improving Stability Of Concentrics Using Asymmetric Flexural Rigidity Tube Steerable Device, Daniel Caleb Rucker, Hunter Bryant Gilbert

College of Engineering Patents

A concentric tube steerable device includes a plurality of tubes having a nested, concentric configuration. The tubes include an outer tube and an inner tube that extends coaxially within the outer tube. The inner tube terminates at a tip, and a pose of the tip is effectuated through individual or collective rotation or translation of the tubes about a tube axis. The concentric tube steerable device includes an actuator for rotating at least one tube about a respective tube axis, and a translator for translating at least one tube along a respective tube axis. Each tube includes a precurved portion …

Molybdenum Alkylidyne Complexes With Phenoxide Ligands For Alkyne Metathesis, Marvin L. Stewart Jr

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Alkyne metathesis is a powerful synthetic tool, which provides easy access to complex organic molecules in a single-step. It is a dynamic covalent reaction that scrambles alkynes, carbon-carbon triple bonds (C≡C). Molybdenum- or tungsten-alkylidyne (Mo≡C, W≡C) complexes are typically used as catalyst to cleave and reform alkyne bonds. Our goal has been to gain a deeper understanding of the intrinsic differences between functional ligands by the development of novel phenoxide ligands.

In chapter 2 we explore the detailed synthesis of novel phenoxide podand ligands in an effort to identify their mo-alkylidyne complexes. We were able to synthesize a variety …

Totoro: A Scalable Federated Learning Engine For The Edge, Cheng Wei Ching, Xin Chen, Taehwan Kim, Bo Ji, Qingyang Wang, Dilma Da Silva, Liting Hu

Faculty Publications

Federated Learning (FL) is an emerging distributed machine learning (ML) technique that enables in-situ model training and inference on decentralized edge devices. We propose Totoro, a novel scalable FL engine, that enables massive FL applications to run simultaneously on edge networks. The key insight is to explore a distributed hash table (DHT)-based peer-to-peer (P2P) model to re-architect the centralized FL system design into a fully decentralized one. In contrast to previous studies where many FL applications shared one centralized parameter server, Totoro assigns a dedicated parameter server to each individual application. Any edge node can act as any application's coordinator, …

Benthic Community Response To The Impacts Of Proposed Sediment Diversions In Louisiana Estuaries, Jillian C. Tupitza

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Sediment diversions designed to mitigate land loss in coastal Louisiana will likely cause ecosystem-wide shifts. The first diversion, planned for Barataria Bay, will divert fresh water and sediment from the Mississippi River into the surrounding wetlands to help them keep pace with high rates of relative sea-level rise (RSLR). Estuarine benthic communities were used in this study as tools to characterize ecological patterns in the context of anticipated salinity changes. I reviewed relevant literature, conducted a two-year survey of Barataria Bay benthos, executed a reciprocal transplant experiment to describe changes that might occur in both community composition and trophic dynamics, …

Harmonizing Soybean-Associated Beneficial Bacteria For Sustainable Cultivation, Jonas J. Padilla

LSU Master's Theses

Long-term reliance on agrochemicals, such as fertilizers and pesticides, to improve crop productivity can severely impact soil physicochemical properties and health. This eventually leads us to completely depend on these chemicals to sustain the needs of our crops. To resuscitate the deteriorating state of our arable lands, we need to shift from traditional farming to more sustainable crop management. One of the alternatives that we can use instead of these chemicals is the utilization of microorganisms that can perform a variety of beneficial functions for the growth and development of crops. Recently, seed-treating materials made up of bacterial consortia were …

Single-Cell Transcriptional Landscapes Of Bovine Peri-Implantation Development, Giovanna Nascimento Scatolin, Hao Ming, Yinjuan Wang, Rajan Iyyappan, Emilio Gutierrez-Castillo, Linkai Zhu, Masroor Sagheer, Chao Song, Kenneth Bondioli, Zongliang Jiang

Faculty Publications

Supporting healthy pregnancy outcomes requires a comprehensive understanding of the molecular and cellular programs of peri-implantation development, when most pregnancy failure occurs. Here, we present single-cell transcriptomes of bovine peri-implantation embryo development at day 12, 14, 16, and 18 post-fertilization. We defined the cellular composition and gene expression of embryonic disc, hypoblast, and trophoblast lineages in bovine peri-implantation embryos, and identified markers and pathway signaling that represent distinct stages of bovine peri-implantation lineages; the expression of selected markers was validated in peri-implantation embryos. Using detailed time-course transcriptomic analyses, we revealed a previously unrecognized primitive trophoblast cell lineage. We also characterized …

The Lowest Discriminant Ideal Of Cayley-Hamilton Hopf Algebras, Zhongkai Mi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Discriminant ideals are defined for an algebra R with central subalgebra C and trace tr : R → C. They are indexed by positive integers and more general than discriminants. Usually R is required to be a finite module over C. Unlike the abundace of work on discriminants, there is hardly any literature on discriminant ideals. The levels of discriminant ideals relate to the sums of squares of dimensions of irreducible modules over maximal ideals of C containing these discriminant ideals. We study the lowest level when R is a Cayley-Hamilton Hopf algebra, i.e. C is also a Hopf subalgebra, …

60th Student Senate Org Session 1 Meeting Minutes, Zoe Joubert

Student Senate Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

59th Student Senate Week 10 Meeting Minutes, Zoe Joubert

Student Senate Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Close Contact Melting, Mohana Durga Gurunadhan

LSU Master's Theses

This report presents a numerical transient analysis of Close Contact Melting (CCM), intended to help in accurate prediction of melt rate and interface configuration, which is to be utilized for a prospective frozen propellant based propulsion system. Three different substrate shapes namely- Flat, Cylindrical and Wedge, are chosen for the study. The domain discretization is based on generation of boundary fitted mesh and the time varying physical domain is transformed to a fixed computational domain, wherein the associated governing equations are solved. Apart from the conventional linear system solvers, an algebraic multigrid based solver is implemented. A non-iterative implicit/explicit melt …

Human-Environment Interactions In Coastal Belize: Insights Into Sea-Level Rise And Ancient Maya Activities At The Paynes Creek Salt Works, Cheryl Mae Foster

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dissertation excavations were carried out in 2019 and 2022 at the underwater sites of Ta’ab Nuk Na and Ek Way Nal in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize. Sea-level rise submerged the sites in antiquity and preserved the artifact record in red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) peat. Red mangrove peat can be used as a proxy for sea-level rise. The goals of the two excavations included: 1) excavating a 14m-long transect within and extending beyond building J at Ta’ab Nuk Na to determine the function of the building, 2) investigating the production of salt making pottery at Ta’ab Nuk Na; …

Ammonium Chemotaxis In Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Gabela Nelson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Analysis of ammonium chemotaxis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is largely hindered, compared to that of phototaxis, despite equal importance on flagellated microalgal physiology. A major contribution of this shortfall is the lack of proper assay method. We developed a simple Petri dish assay method in which light is homogenously exposed while patterns of the cellular migration are tracked with a function of time. Using the method, new findings were revealed. First, this research presented that a strain lacking the eyespot organelle required for light gradient-sensing exhibits similar chemotactic behavior compared to a wild-type strain, suggesting Chlamydomonas sense an ammonium gradient not …

Community-Level Post-Hazard Functionality Methodology For Buildings Exposed To Floods, Omar Nofal, Nathanael Rosenheim, Sabarethinam Kameshwar, Jayant Patil, Xiangnan Zhou, John W. Van De Lindt, Leonardo Duenas-Osorio, Eun Jeong Cha, Amin Endrami, Elaina Sutley, Harvey Cutler, Tao Lu, Chen Wang, Hwayoung Jeon

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a building-level post-hazard functionality model for communities exposed to flood hazards including the interdependencies between the population, buildings, and infrastructure. An existing portfolio of building archetypes is used to model the post-hazard physical flood functionality of different building typologies within the community with the goal of supporting resilience-informed decision-making. Specific fragility-based flood functionality curves were developed for this portfolio to quantify the exceedance probability of a prescribed set of functionality states. While the physical functionality of buildings is significant to the total functionality of a building and community resilience assessment, the functionality of utilities such as power …

Improved Modeling And Application Of Data Assimilation In Gas Influx Management During Managed Pressure Drilling, Chen Wei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The management of gas influxes in a drilling well has been considered one of the most critical topics for maintaining petroleum drilling safety and efficiency. Reliable modeling of gas influx behaviors in a wellbore or a marine riser greatly benefits the improved understanding of a gas kick event and the development of optimized influx management strategies. However, the current studies on transient multiphase flow modeling show varying limitations on both the model rigorousness and the overall numerical efficiency. Meanwhile, the existence of great system uncertainties, such as the unclear influx sizes and distributions in the well/riser, has brought significant challenges …

Generating Rate Features For Mobile Applications, Shristi Shrestha, Anas Mahmoud

Faculty Publications

Mobile application (app) stores employ standardized mechanisms for rating hosted apps, typically in the form of free text reviews and numerical rating scales. App users use these mechanisms to express their opinions about their apps and discover apps that fit their specific needs. However, existing app rating systems do not take into account the operational characteristics of application domains. Thus, generated user reviews are often short, subjective, and one-dimensional. To overcome these limitations, in this paper, we propose a multi-dimensional rating system for mobile apps. Our assumption is that an adaptive goal-based app rating system can prompt users to generate …

Blocks? Graphs? Why Not Both? Designing And Evaluating A Hybrid Programming Environment For End-Users, Nico Ritschel, Felipe Fronchetti, Reid Holmes, Ronald Garcia, David C. Shepherd

Faculty Publications

Many modern end-user development environments support one of two visual modalities: block-based programming or data-flow programming. In this work, we investigate the trade-offs between the two modalities in the context of robotics tasks. These often contain both aspects that are better solved with blocks and others that best fit data-flow programming. To address this style of task, we present and discuss two novel programming environment prototypes, one purely block-based and one a hybrid of blocks and data-flow programming. We compare the designs through a controlled experiment with 113 end-user participants, in which we asked them to solve programming and program …